Seattle could be first city to give heroin users 'safe spaces'

Seattle is on track to become the first place in the country where heroin addicts can legally shoot up at a supervised healthcare facility, hoping that the controversial move can reduce the number of overdose deaths and decrease the spread of disease through dirty needles.

An outgrowth of needle exchange programs found throughout the U.S., the two “supervised injection facilities” would assign drug users to a small cubicle where they could shoot up. Medical personnel monitor each person’s response to the drug and, if he or she overdoses, is immediately treated with an overdose-reversing medication such as naloxone.